Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Under the Southern Cross I stand
A sprig of wattle in my hand,
A native of my native land,
Australia, you f***ing beauty!

This poem is one used by the Australian cricket team as their “victory song”; to be recited by the team following a win, usually chanted in the confines of their dressing room or at an after-match celebration. The last line of the “official version” is given as “Australia, you little beauty”.[1]

The tradition of the Australian cricket team chanting “Under the Southern Cross I Stand” began in 1974, when Rod Marsh gave a rendition of the poem after Australia had beaten England at the Gabba (the Brisbane Cricket Ground, situated in Woolloongabba). The unofficial role of “songmaster” has been handed down through the ranks of Australian cricketers; from Rod Marsh the role was passed on to Allan Border, then David Boon, Ian Healy, Ricky Ponting (also known as “Punter”), Justin Langer, Mike Hussey, and Nathan Lyon. Upon retirement from the team, or becoming team captain, each custodian of the verse appoints his successor.[2]

Rod Marsh (also known as “Bacchus”, a reference to the town of Bacchus Marsh) had learnt the verse from the then captain of the Australian cricket team, Ian Chappell, who had heard it in 1963 from another Australian cricketer, Raymond Patrick Hogan. Chappell has expressed the belief that Hogan picked it up from yet another Australian cricketer, John McMahon, who had served in the Australian military during the Second World War. The Australian author Thomas Keneally has reported hearing the song from his father, who also served in the Second World War. This raises the possibility that the poem came from the Australian military.[3]

There is indeed evidence that a variant verse was used in the military and universities. Considering that there were many ties between the military forces and the university regiments, the connection between the two is not surprising. Ralph Pridmore, who was a Major in the Australian army, says that the following version was used in the Royal Australian Engineers in the 1960s and 1970s:

Two arms, two hands
Two steely bands
Beneath the Southern Cross I stand
A hero of my native land
Australia!
Up the old red rooster
And more piss. [4]

An almost identical variant, considered to be the “unofficial hymn” of the Australian National University Boat Club, is believed to date back to the Intervarsity Regatta held in Adelaide in 1966:

Two arms, two hands, two steely bands
Under the Southern Cross I stand
A native of this Southern land, Australia
You bloody beauty.
Up the old red rooster.
More piss! [5]

Anecdotal evidence provides a longer version of the same poem:

Australia, Australia
Land of the waratah and … dahlia
If ya land in gaol I’ll bail ya
Australia
Two arms, two hands
Two steely bands
Beneath the Southern Cross I stand
A sprig of wattle in my hand
A product of my native land
A voice within me cries aloud
Australia
You bloody beauty
So up the old red rooster
And more piss! [6]

However, the origins of the verse go back much further, as it has apparently been based upon the chorus of the 1890s patriotic song “Australia; or Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand”, written by the Rev. Thomas Hilhouse Taylor (1861-1925). A 1908 advertisement for the song described it as “the recognised Australian National Anthem”. The chorus of Taylor’s song is as follows:

The evidence suggests that this cricketers’ chant began as a patriotic song in the late 1890s, was turned into a military drinking song in the 1940s, and then finally developed into the victory song of the Australian cricket team in the 1970s. From such beginnings has this raucous verse become popular with cricket fans in particular, and with Australians in general.

Thank you for your comment.
The line “The tradition of the Australian cricket team chanting “Under the Southern Cross I Stand” began in 1974″ refers to the origin of the tradition of the song being used by the cricket team, not to the origin of the song itself.
The following paragraphs in the article explain that the song was used by Australian military personnel in the 1960s and 1970s, and prior to that it was used in World War Two (i.e. 1939-1945), which your comment confirms.
As noted in the article, the song, or chant, appears to stem from an 1890s patriotic song.